


Sleeping Beauty

by vat7k



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Comedy, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Hugo Needs a Hug (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Poor Life Choices, Sleep Deprivation, Varian Needs a Hug (Disney)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29720982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vat7k/pseuds/vat7k
Summary: When Nuru saw Varian dragging Hugo back, unconscious, she was initially confused. She knew Varian and Hugo didn't tend to get along but… this? Well that just seemed a bit violent, let alone Varian being the one to knock him out. Or… maybe worse."Did… did you kill him?"OrHugo falls under a sleep curse and Varian realizes he misses him more than he'd like to admit.
Relationships: Hugo/Varian (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	Sleeping Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr prompt from Glacecakes: "Varigo sleep curse..."
> 
> Also I swear to GOD if ao3 on mobile doesn't let me fucking tag shit properly im going to lose it!!!
> 
> Not beta read

"Why are we here again?" Hugo scoffed, following closely behind Varian, arms crossed tightly across his chest, trying to keep to himself and be as little of help as possible.

"Well if someone didn't ruin my alchemical solution, we wouldn't be here." He crouched down, examining the plant in front of him that sat at the base of a large tree. It was leafy and almost a blue tint of green. He examined it a moment more before shaking his head and huffing, standing back to his full height, continuing to walk through the lush forest. 

The blond drummed his fingers on his arm, boredly. "Right. Why do I have to be here though?"

Varian whipped his head around to shoot an almost offended glare at the other man. "Do I need to remind you who's fault that was?"

Hugo sighed, walking to stand beside the alchemist. "Nope, it was me. Was kinda funny to see your face to be honest." He snickered. 

Varian let out a sarcastic hum. "Yeah soooo funny. Now get your ass over here and help me look."

Hugo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, fine."

"Good boy." Varian condescendingly remarked as they walked into a rather large clearing. A large patch of blue flowers inhabited the ground and the sun was beaming down generously thanks to the lack of trees. He once again squatted down to his knees, examining the flowers but keeping a good distance away from them. He hummed in thought.

Hugo looked at the boy. "Good boy? Do you take me for some kind of dog or something? Cause for the record--"

"Shhh!" Varian shushed the man impatiently, narrowing his eyes as he studied the blue flowers.

"What…? Can't look at the flowers if you hear something?" Hugo crouched, picking one of the flowers by the stem.

"No. I'm thinking."

Hugo brought the flower up to his face, closing one eye and bringing the plant closer to his open eye. "Yep! I've figured it out! These are definitely flowers! Thanks for wasting our time goggles!"

"No, I need to figure out the exact type of flowers it is." He turned to shoot a non-impressed look at his scavenging partner but his eyes widened as the blond brought the flower to his nose. 

"No! Hugo don't--" Hugo inhaled the scent of the flower and the stigma shot out a large puff of purple dust and smoke. Hugo instantly fell over, eyes closed in a deep sleep. "... do that." 

Varian threaded his fingers in his hair before yanking in anger. "No! Never listen to Varian! Not like he knows what he's talking about and is an expert on these kinds of things! Let's just do fuck all and piss him off!" He shouted to himself as he stood up, hooking his arms under the thief's arms, dragging the man back in the direction of their campsite with effort.

Well at least he knew his hypothesis about the flowers was correct.

_______ 

When Nuru saw Varian dragging Hugo back, unconscious, she was initially confused. She knew Varian and Hugo didn't tend to get along but… this? Well that just seemed a bit violent, let alone Varian being the one to knock him out. Or… maybe worse.

"Did… did you kill him?"

Varian dropped the body he was dragging to the ground with a 'Thump!' And snapped his head around to look at Nuru. "Kill hi--?! What?! No!"

Alright, maybe she jumped the gun a bit. There was probably a perfectly logical reason for the alchemist to be dragging Hugo's unconscious body back to their camp. "Then what happened?!"

Varian groaned in frustration as he remembered what happened. "Well someone never listens to what I say, so let's just say that he inhaled a powder that knocked him out."

"Well, that sounds like something he'd do." She paused, putting a finger to her chin to hum in thought. "Do we have a cure?"

Varian huffed. "Possibly. I briefly read over my mothers notes about her journey here and that was how I even recognized the flowers that shot the powder. She might have a cure there." He began dragging Hugo in the direction of his tent to look through his mother's journal for any possible fix.

Yong came out from his tent, hearing the commotion and seeing Hugo's limp body being dragged by Varian. "Is Hugo dead?"

"WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK I'D KILL HUGO?!"

_______ 

Varian dropped Hugo's body onto the sleeping bag in his tent before walking over to his desk which had many vials and unfinished, and hastily scribbled equations. Nuru and Yong followed behind him. He brushed a few utensils to the side, dropping the journal in front of him and quickly skimming through a few pages.

"Let's see, let's see…" he mumbled to himself aimlessly before his face lit up in recognition. "Aha! Here!" He ran his finger along the page, as he read to himself in a hushed whisper. He turned to the next page and… "What…?" He flipped back and forth a few pages, desperately. "What?! No, no! No cure?!" He groaned and slammed the book down onto his desk. "She never found a cure… all she knows is that it sends people into a curse of sleep…"

"What are we gonna do?" Yong asked over his shoulder, sadly.

Varian only shook his head. "I don't know…"

_______ 

As much as Varian didn't like the idea of splitting their group up, anytime one of them had to leave, at least one person had to stay behind with Hugo.

They hadn't encountered anyone who wanted to kidnap Hugo or anything but something about leaving the blond alone with no one to watch over just felt irresponsible. Besides, Hugo would do the same for them! Well… maybe not, but still… there was something in Varian that knew he did care about Hugo. Yes, he was arrogant, noisy, and overly confident, but he was also charming and caring when he chose to be.

As much as Varian hated to admit it, the stupid thief had wormed his way into Varian’s heart so in some sort of bizarre way, Varian supposed he considered Hugo a friend.

It was hard enough admitting to himself that Hugo was his friend but now? When the man was unconscious for god knows how long until they find a cure. He hated to admit it but he missed the blond's arguing.

"Ugh! I can't figure any of this out! This is so stupid!" He slammed his face down onto his desk and groaned loudly. He lifted his head up, rubbing his temples. "Headache…" he sighed. Silence. Usually Hugo would've said something by now. 

"That was… pretty stupid of me, huh?" Again, silence. Right. Hugo was out. Varian glanced down to the sleeping man in his sleeping bag. He watched the peaceful rise and fall of his chest and the way his eyelashes fluttered close and was almost hypnotized into a sleepy state himself. He shook his head, bringing himself out of his tired stupor. No! He can't sleep! He has to find a solution, he has to keep working on a cure for his friend. He has to because if he didn't… he didn't even want to imagine.

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and turned back to his work, staying awake into the early hours of the morning but his endless research resulted in nothing.

_______ 

Varian had not slept for… four? No, no… five? Five. Varian had not slept for five days. He had small naps here or there knowing that without a wink of sleep, the alchemist would experience the less savory aspects of sleep deprivation like hallucinations which would only further impede his work on a cure.

Much to the concern of Nuru and Yong, Varian simply refused to get any sleep and refused any help on the few occasions he had to leave to get more materials for his solutions. The thought of leaving Hugo alone on those rare occasions made Varian sick with worry, but the fact that Nuru was usually very responsible eased the anxiety a bit. 

On top of pure exhaustion and anxiety, Varian had also been neglecting his need to eat or drink. He would occasionally if only to prevent himself from keeling over and passing out. Nuru had insisted he eat multiple times and Yong enthusiastically invited him to their breakfast and dinner meals to which Varian declined. The only time he'd eat was extremely late at night when he just couldn't take the hungry feeling anymore. 

So, needless to say, Varian was a little more than overwhelmed. He could feel his breaking point coming soon. He really didn't want to and he wanted to focus, but he swears to God, if one thing even goes slightly wrong, he will lose it.

Cue the things going wrong.

Varian had dripped one drop of a purple-ish liquid through the tube on the setup in front of him. It went through a series of twists and turns above a small open flame before dropping into the beaker of… whatever he was going to call this new concoction… if it ended up working, of course.

Okay, okay, so far so good. All he needed was to add what was left of his precious solution from the vial he had. He picked it up, uncorking it and just as he went to pour it, his elbow knocked on the table and the sudden jerk made him drop the vial onto the ground. "No!" He shouted in alarm, shooting his hands out in a clumsy fashion, attempting to reach the vial before it hit the ground. Much to his despair, the vial fell to the tent floor and the solution spilled over. He desperately picked up the small glass container, trying to salvage what he could. All that was left was a measly few drops… but he needed more than that for this to work! He needed a plethora of items to create more of the solution and that meant having to go out for the next few days just to create more of this for a mix that might not even work.

Varian slumped against his seat. He sighed. He clenched his fists. He squeezed his eyes shut. In a show of utter exhaustion and frustration he hiccupped as a few tears fell quietly. Then, he broke. He quickly reached over, putting out the small flame under his set up, then dropped his head against the small open space on his desk and sobbed. He was tired, upset, scared, and probably sick too. He just wanted this to be over.

He just wanted Hugo back.

_______ 

A month. It had been a month since Hugo fell to the sleep curse and it had been a month since Varian realized how badly he needed Hugo.

Varian's song and dance of poor self-care continued despite the desperate concern of his friends. He didn't want to do anything but find a cure for Hugo but that was becoming harder and harder by the second. Failed experiment after failed experiment, Varian's hope was slowly dwindling.

Currently, he sat next to Hugo's sleeping form. He grabbed the man's calloused hand in his own, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles softly. It was more to comfort himself than anything. He sighed with sadness, staring at the sleeping man. If only he had warned him quicker. If only he hadn't spent so much time trying to pinpoint the type of flower they were and just warned him sooner. If only he hadn't forced Hugo to help him search for new supplies. If only.

Varian blinked back tears. This was his fault. In a moment of impulsiveness and needing of comfort, he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to the blond's forehead. "I'm sorry…" he whispered. He sat for a moment before dropping the man's hand and stood to walk away and sit at his desk again, prepared to work on more solutions. He only sat for a moment before he heard shuffling behind him. 

"Ugh… Goggles?"

Oh great. He knew he should've slept more. He had better things to worry about besides auditory hallucinations.

"Wh… what happened…?"

No… that was too clear to be a hallucination… maybe. Hesitantly Varian looked back to the blond who, sure enough, was sitting up, elbow on knee and hand placed to his forehead. His eyes were narrow with sleep and his hair was a mess. He looked like shit… not that Varian looked any better. "H-Hugo…?"

Hugo only raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "I asked a question."

Varian leaped out of his chair and into Hugo's arms, wrapping his own around the skinny man's body. "Hugo! I thought I lost you! I thought you were going to sleep forever and it was all going to be my fault! I- I--" he broke out into weak but relieved sobs.

Hugo was admittedly very confused but returned the hug. Clearly whatever had the alchemist so upset was important and he supposed he could spare a moment to show a kind gesture to the man because, in short, he looked like he hadn't eaten or slept in weeks.

After the sobbing died down, Hugo pulled away fully intending to ask Varian some things like what happened and why did he think it was his fault but… when he looked down, the boy was snoring peacefully against his chest, arms wrapped around his torso loosely. Hugo chuckled at the sight and decided to let the boy sleep. He could ask him later.


End file.
